Just upgraded CLT to FCO as a plat with my girlfriend on my record @ T24. Was really sweating when T24 hit and there were only two seats left!

Now if I could just get those on flex to change their flights to a different day for the return...

Next year aiming for trip to Japan, anyone know chances of Plat upgrades from DFW to NRT or JFK to NRT?

Well your chances are much better on DFW-NRT, considering AA hasn't operated JFK-NRT in a few years...

DCA-MSY 9/4/18 and MSY-DCA 9/6/18 both cleared at T-28 hours for EXP + companion. Flight on 9/4 went out with 50% load in both Y and F (i.e. 6 open seats in F with no one on the list).

This week's domestic upgrades for me:

DEN-CLT: Tuesday morning, A321, cleared at ~24 hours
CLT-LGA: Tuesday afternoon, A321, cleared at 100 hours
LGA-ORD: Thursday morning, 738, cleared at 100 hours
ORD-DEN: Thursday afternoon. 738, cleared at gate

Saw something crazy.

IAH-DFW today had 66 people on the upgrade list.
DFW-BOS had 41.

IAH-DFW is reasonable as everyone with elite status gets on that list automatically. DFW-BOS is a 4 sticker upgrade. 41 is quite a few for a J0 flight.

Seeing a long upgrade list is not uncommon, Last Nov, ORD-PHX had 23 people on the upgrade list and I was one of them In Aug on our ORD-LGA there 29 on the upgrade list.

Hoping to get on the upgrade list from LAX to SYD... Heard thats usually a crazy one to get through without SWU or high status. I will Executive Platinum by end of December. Where is the thread about SWU?

Thanks!!

-Eric

1. Fixed that for you.
2. Here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...er-thread.html

Another flight. Another SWU clearing well in advance.

AA46, the late ORD-LHR, for the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Y-->J on a 788.

(admittedly the Sunday after Thanksgiving might be a bit abnormal day for 'typical' business travel)

9/1 OGG-LAX-MCO @ 100 hrs (got to love that hurricane that never made it to Maui
9/2 MCO-DCA UPG'd for one (well, my EXP GF was #2 on the MCO-DCA but I gave her the FC seat
9/5 DCA-MCO @ 100 hrs;
9/10 MCO-LAX [MENTION=724744]100[/MENTION] hrs.

I gave my Last SWU to a friend for his 9/8 JFK-BCN and it cleared a few days ago

And, my friends on the 9/7 DFW-FCO had one UPG clear while the other available J seat, instead of going to his GF on the same record (with no status except his EXP,) was skipped for a cash+miles Gold pax. Money, money, money.

Waitlisted an SWU on LAX-DFW for today and the complimentary upgrade booked at 100 hours. Go figure...

Anyone one know how often the system runs for complimentary upgrades between T-24 and T-4?

T-23 for a SAN-DFW flight that I just SDCed to, and there's 7 seats open in F -- but not sure if it may still clear between now and T-4 (and I'm unable to check-in due to an error).

Thanks!

EDIT: Never mind, it just cleared a minute later after I posted this, so I guess it runs fairly often...

I will be EXP before years end so for 2019 will have the 4 SWUs to use. I would like to use them for international travel, probably Europe but may decide on an Asian destination like HKG or Japan(or other cities in China that AA flies to. I hear so many grumbles out there about clearing these upgrades, especially to Europe if not anywhere. Also, since it has to be on AA metal there are only so many destinations to choose from.

What European destinations would give me the best chance? Or what about Asia? We will probably go in Oct, maybe Nov, assume the latter gives us a better chance. I'd love to pick a destination that gives us the best chance for success.

My home airport is SBA(Santa Barbara, CA) I see seasonal flights are planned on AA metal PHX to LHR in addition to the BA flight. Real easy for me to go SBA to PHX so and SBA-PHX-LHR is a good route for me. But, being London, very popular I'd assume. And, they probably has more saver availability on BA than their own flights I'd bet. If I did focus on this what's a good strategy like month and day to leave?

If this post should be elsewhere moderators please move it. I didn't see another good place to post this question.

It's less about the destination and more about the season/month and day of week you can travel. If you can travel midweek (especially Tues and Wed) then your chances increase greatly for both Europe and Asia flights. LHR isn't any more difficult to clear than other European destinations.

If you want to go to London, you shouldn't have any trouble clearing the upgrade if you can fly on a Tues or Wed in Oct or Nov.

Just keep in mind that AA releases very little upgrade space in advance. Most of the time they don't clear upgrades off the waitlist until about a week before the flight, many times not till 24 hrs or so before.

I'm looking at a trip to PVG in early December. I'll buy PE and use SWU's to waitlist for biz.
Does anyone know if the DFW or LAX would have a better chance of upgrade? Is it best to avoid weekends and try for mid-week?